Green up your Wedding!

It’s your special day… why should you go green? You will reduce your carbon footprint and help change people’s views on how weddings should evolve with the times. And best of all, you’ll save money!

1. Send out an E-invite!

Ditch the elaborate envelopes, inserts, and gifts. Just go electronic. Think of all the trees you’ll save. There’s always the trusted facebook invite, but for those with a creative bone, try Evite, Yoovite or any of those online invitation websites. Not only are they free, they have beautiful styled templates and a built in RSVP system so you can track who is coming.

If you really want paper cards, you can print on recycled paper and use soy based ink. A few printing houses in Bangkok now do this including Panorama Soy Ink http://www.soyink.co.th/.

2. Ditch the Return Gifts!

As soon as people go home, that little trinket you had specially made as a return gift gets lost in an Everest of return gifts mounting on the dining table. It is thoughtful to give people something to take away when they attend your wedding. But it doesn’t have to be a ‘something’, it can be a feeling. So, choose your favourite charity and let your guests know that you have donated a specified amount per guest to the charity. Not only is it a feel-good gesture, it will bring good energy and karma to you and your guests.

3. Stay Local!

Save all those travel miles and have your wedding in the City of Angels. Not only will you remove all the logistical nightmares, you can also go to Took Lae Dee after forgetting to eat at your own wedding.

Take it one step further and have your party at an eco friendly hotel such as the Metropolitan by COMO, Sampran Riverside, or the Bangkok Tree House. The Metropolitan’s Glow serves up organic and raw food with locally sourced ingredients. Sampran Riverside has two beautiful riverside restaurants that similarly serve up organic menus from their own farm with great vegan options.

4. Go Vegetarian!

Becoming vegetarian is perhaps the most impactful personal choice one can make to become more eco friendly. And we know you secretly love tofu, paneer and mock meat. And if anyone asks why, just tell them its cool to be Chay! Great vegetarian caterers include Sri Ganesha, Hotel Lotus Sukhumvit, Red & Bel Aire.

5. Reusable and Environmentally Friendly Decor!

Backdrops worth hundreds of thousands of baht with imported flowers, cardboard scenery, confetti, you name it, every big wedding has it. And what happens to it all at the end of the night? It ends up in landfill. This is the source of most wedding waste and pollution.

You may not know but flowers as part of your décor also carry harmful pesticides and glossy chemical sprays which are harmful to your guests and the environment. If flowers are a must, then use in-season and ethically produced flowers such as local orchids and marigolds.

You can also reduce impact on the environment by using rented and borrowed items. Wedding planners and hotels have a huge stock of previously used items that are in sparkling condition. Anything can be re-invented or modified with a bit of creativity. Another option is to find reusable things to be appropriated as decor. A friend used small potted herbs as her decor and then gave them away to wedding guests as return gifts!

6. Go on an Eco Honeymoon!

Head to Soneva Kiri on Koh Kood, where you can relax in the lap of luxury while eating organic food and sleep on organic cotton sheets. Enjoy warm ayurvedic oil massages at the Six Senses Spa and have a romantic meal in a Treepod hoisted high up in the tropical foliage of Koh Kood’s rainforest.

Alternatively, if you just can’t bear not going to Europe on an extravagant 3 week vacay, then buy some carbon offsets before you take off. Verified options include German based company Atmosfair https://www.atmosfair.de/ and Australian based company Climate Friendly http://www.climatefriendly.com/ .

7. Hire an Eco Wedding Consultant!

So maybe you want all the bells and whistles of a big fat wedding, but you would like to make it as eco friendly as possible. Hire Bangkok Greenie, to work alongside your wedding planner and green up your wedding. Email urbangreenbkk@gmail.com for more information.

.
Check out our sister website - The Urban Green Scene! Your guide to eco-friendly, organic, green and sustainable businesses, organisations and initiatives around Bangkok, including all the best places to eat, shop, live and play in a green way.